Paschke True Point Guard For Purple Dogs

Cameron Paschke, center, a Fayetteville senior point guard, takes the ball to the basket between Rogers’ Jake Killingsworth, left, and Brett Gentz during the Bulldogs’ game Jan. 11 at King Arena in Rogers.
Cameron Paschke, center, a Fayetteville senior point guard, takes the ball to the basket between Rogers’ Jake Killingsworth, left, and Brett Gentz during the Bulldogs’ game Jan. 11 at King Arena in Rogers.

— Cameron Paschke is first-hand proof numbers don’t always tell the whole story in basketball.

The 6-foot senior point guard doesn’t rank near the top of the many statistical categories for Fayetteville this season. And while he might not be one of his team’s top

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Cameron Paschke

SCHOOL: Fayetteville

CLASS: Senior

HEIGHT: 6-0

NOTABLE: A three-year starter. ... Averages 5.7 points, 1.9 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.2 rebounds per game. ... Leads Fayetteville in free-throw percentage (83.3) and second on the team in 3-pointers (19).

scorers, Paschke just might be one of the more valuable pieces to the PurpleDog’s puzzle.

Cam has accepted his role and thats a credit to him because his role has changed so much in three years, Fayetteville boys basketball coach Kyle Adams said. When he was a sophomore, he needed to shoot the ball as much as possible.

Then last year it was a mixture of scoring and distributing. And this year he’s just done everything he’s been called upon for. Hes just a team-first guy.

While a point guard who average’s 5.7 points, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game might not strike opponents as a dangerous threat, the talent around Paschke must be considered.

With the Bulldogs counting on Manuale Watkins, Jawan Smith, Tyler McCullough and Caleb Waitsman for the bulk of their scoring, Paschkes role is more as a true point guard.

This year I really don’t have to score that much, Paschke said. I know I’m not averaging that many points, but I just have to set up the team and get them where they need to be and get the ball to the other guys. Because I know they can pretty much score whenever they want to.

I’m a team guy and I’m pretty much a pass-first point guard. But I’ll step up and take a shot and score when I need to.

Adams believes Paschkes abilities are no secret inside the 7A/6A-West Conference.

As one of Fayetteville’s top outside shooters, conference teams know Paschke can hurt them if they’re not careful. Outside the league, though, his deceiving numbers can work to his advantage.

Most teams in our league know how good of a shooter Cam is, Adams said. But when you go down to the Central conference, they might not know him as well.

Ive said this before. Some college is going to get a steal in Cameron. Hes a point guard who can shoot and score, and those are hard to find.

Paschke said he couldn’t care less about his own shots or numbers at this point in his career. After being in the middle of last year’s state runner-up finish, his only goal is to make sure the Bulldogs finish on top of the Class 7A this year.

We know how it feels to lose in the state championship, and none of us want that to happen again, Paschke said. It was a horrible feeling.

We already lost to North Little Rock once this season, so now I think we know what it takes to stop them. And hopefully we’ll see them in the finals and be able to take home a state championship.

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